MOTHERS' weight gain in pregnancy is not linked to an increased risk of premature death among their adult children, according to a study based on the long-term health of nearly 4000 people born in Aberdeen during the 1950s.
The first study of its kind to examine the relationship between a woman's body mass index (BMI) during pregnancy and the health of her offspring decades later has found no association between the mother’s rate of weight gain and the children's risk of death or heart problems in adulthood.
Only a very extreme rate of weight gain of around two Ibs or more a week - in excess of five stone over a full term - was associated with increased risk of cerebrovascular events, such as strokes, in the offspring.
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However, in these cases the researchers concluded that adult health and lifestyle factors - such as quitting smoking, losing weight or reversing obesity-related diabetes - could mitigate the risk.
The study, published today in the journal 'Heart', was led by Aberdeen University in collaboration with the Edinburgh University and based on data gathered between 1950 and 1956 for the Aberdeen Children of the 1950’s Birth Cohort (ACONF).
Dr Sohinee Bhattacharya, who led the study, said: “These findings are quite startling because what they show is that there is basically no relationship between mother’s weight gain in pregnancy and heart disease, or premature death in adulthood.
“Only in very extreme cases, where the mother had an exceptionally high weight gain, we found a higher risk of stroke in the adult offspring. However once we took the adults’ lifestyle factors into account, such as BMI and smoking status, this difference disappeared.
“So this study provides a very important public health message: you can’t do very much about your mother’s weight gain in pregnancy, but if you lead a healthy life - you can mitigate any effects of this on your risk of having heart disease or dying prematurely."
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Previous research has reported that children born to mothers who were obese or overweight in pregnancy were at greater risk of death or heart-related health problems, but no previous study has been able to chart their health into adulthood.
The findings are based on the ACONF database, from which researchers were able to identify 3,781 individuals with complete case histories detailing their mothers' weight during pregnancy, their own birth-weight, social class, and their height and weight from a school survey in Aberdeen between 1962 and 1964.
A follow-up questionnaire distributed to the cohort in 2001 also provided details of their adult height and weight, socioeconomic status - based on their own occupation - and self-reported history of diabetes.
Of the 3,781 in the sample, 103 had since died, 169 had suffered at least one cardiovascular event such as a heart attack and 73 had had a hospital admission for cerebrovascular disease.
However, from the analysis the study concludes that "being healthy as an adult (ie, being a non-smoker, having a healthy weight and being non-diabetic) is more important than any risks acquired in utero and in childhood".
However, they acknowledged that their small number of obese mothers in the 1950s was a limitation and the results required longer-term follow up.
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Dr Bhattacharya added: “For the first time, this large scale cohort study was able to show that adult health and lifestyle factors and not early life risk factors played the most important role in determining cardiovascular mortality and morbidity.
"Modifying these risk factors (obesity, smoking, diabetes) would constitute effective preventive strategy irrespective of maternal or early life factors."
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